about

Billy McDonald of Birmingham, Alabama, had an adventurous and dangerous career as a pilot in the Golden Age of Flight, and into World War II.

He jumped from military cadet to wingman in Chennault’s famed aerobatic flying group Three Men on a Flying Trapeze. In China, he moved from instructor for the Chinese Air Force to combat pilot flying Chennault’s legendary Hawk 75 Special against the Japanese over Nanking in 1937. He began by ferrying world-famous passengers like Hemingway and high-value cargo like gold for the China National Aviation Corporation and then flew gasoline and gunpowder over The Hump (Himalayas) for Chennault’s Flying Tigers and the Chinese Army. Through it all, controversial and legendary aviator Claire Lee Chennault remained his mentor, often his boss and always his friend, indelibly shaping his life.

This is the story of a remarkable career, and a man who bore witness to some of the twentieth century’s historic events and pivotal characters. Mac tells us the tale in his own words through newly-discovered photos, correspondence and manuscripts.

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Table of Contents

Table of Maps Foreword by Bill Chivalette How I Found My Father Halfway Across World by William C. McDonald III Acknowledgements Introduction by Barbara L. Evenson The Making of a Pilot 1906-1919 A Boy from Fairfield; Geography, Hard Work, Friends & Family; Major James (Jimmy) Armand Meissner; 1920-1928 Mac Dreams of Flying; 1928 - Out of Blue; 1930 - Learning to Fly; Letters Home from Flight School; Henry Tift "Hank" Meyers; High Altitude Formation Flying; 1932-1936 Men on Flying Trapeze; Origins of Army Demonstration Team; Training & Thrills with Chennault; U.S. Army Air Service & Airmail Scandal; Ferrying Transports from New York to Bogotá; 1935 - Hell Diver Bailout Here I Am...In China Casting Off For China; Madame Chiang; 1936 Central Aviation School; Lt. Col. Reinburg Selected; Waiting for Chennault; Eric Just & Jimmy Meissner & Mac; May 1, 1937 Graduation for first class trained entirely by Mac & Friends; Mac and Chennault in Japan; Chennault Meets His New Boss: "She will always be the Princess to me"; Inspection Trip; Gods and War; China and Japan War With Japan Chennault, Mac & Smith Stay: "...until it becomes dangerous"; Mac's Year in China; With Chinese Air Force; Mobilizing for War; Bomber Versus Pursuit; Effect of U.S. Neutrality Acts; Idzumo Incident: Rumor; Battle of Shanghai; Built for Speed & Fitted With Guns; Hawk 75 Special; Were Americans Squadron Leaders in Combat?; A Coded Journal?; From British Archives; Mac & Blankety Things; Mac's Logbook Entries; A Close Call for Mac and Chennault; Logbook & Journal Entries; "Feejee Lailai" (Airplanes Coming); "China is unified...and she is going to fight"; Fall of Nanking; Japanese Sink American Gunboat USS Panay; 1938 International Squadron; Chennault, Chinese & Russians; A Few Months in Hankow; "Boycott of Japanese Goods"; Moving Flight Schools; Chennault's Joe; San Francisco in Kunming; Hugh Woods & Japanese Attack on CNAC Plane; Mysterious Flight to Burma Border; "30 Degrees Against That Mountain"; "We will probably move west again, on to Tibet"; News from Kunming; Christmas Holiday with Colonel; Chennault Puts Mac in Charge; China Has Lost Its Air Force; CAF Memories CNAC Still Chennault's Wingman; Off to a Flying Start: A Job with a Future; Hong Kong - Chungking - Chengtu Route; Mysterious Trip, June 16-July 10, 1940; Foxy Kent & Chungking; Attacks on CNAC DC-2; Frank Higgs; It wasn't all flying and danger...sometime there were Dachshunds in sweaters...; A Reverse Three-Point Landing: Three versions; China to Mountains; Important People Flew with Mac; China to Mountains; CNAC Loses a DC-3 But Gains a DC-2½ CNAC at War America and Britain Enter Fight; Evacuation of Hong Kong: Dec. 8-10, 1941; A Brief Stop at Toungoo: Chennault & Flying Tigers, Guns Ready; Unhappiest Man in Alabama; Adventure Seemed To Seek Him Out; A Trip Home, With Submarine; Trip to India; Flying Hump: Supply to China; Fire and Ice: Crashes; Navigation Tools: Maps; Reading Maps; Flight Plans and Air Traffic Control by CNAC Captain Gifford Bull; Trust in CNAC; Wartime Censorship, End of Detailed Letters; Terry & Pirates; Mac is Operations Assistant & Chief Pilot; Roster of Senior Pilots, mid-1943 CNAC report; CNAC Captain Pete Goutiere Meets Mac; Crocodile Flight in Four Stories; Forced Landing in Manas River by Glenn H. Carroll; Letter to Mac from Captain James Atlee; Glenn Carroll's C-47 Flies Again by Mac; Flying a Transport Off a 700-foot Sandbar by Fletcher Hanks, Saga of CNAC #53; Marrying a Princess; Perks of Dating a Pilot; 1944 Wedding in Calcutta; Honeymoon in Cooch Behar; Accomplishments and Sacrifices; Fatal Crash of Frank Higgs; 1946 Christmas Crashes; After China; Lt. Gen. Claire Lee Chennault Photo Album CAF & CNAC; Reunions; Mac's Family; 2016 Trip to China; Remembering Mac

Editorial Reviews

"Having read The Shadow Tiger, I stand in awe of a true warrior...a selfless leader and a perfect example of 'the greatest generation.' If you want to be inspired, this is one book you must read." General Charles C. Krulak, 31st Commandant, US Marine Corps "...one of the best history books of any kind that I've ever read." President Peggy Maher, China National Aviation Corp. Association "McDonald was a great pilot whose life was filled with incredible adventures. I guarantee this book will keep you on the edge of your seat as much as it kept me on the edge of mine." William I. Chivalette, Curator, Air Force Enlisted Heritage Research Institute "Williamson and McDonald are outstanding pilots...If we were to go to war and I were ordered to the front, I would choose these two men to accompany me into combat, and that is the highest compliment a combat formation leader can pay." Lt. Gen. Claire Lee Chennault, Commander of 14th Air Force "Billy McDonald was a badass." Gregory Crouch, author of China's Wings